California Gets Very Large Share of Venture Capital Funding

Funding for California’s Technology Firms. Venture capital (VC) provides investment funding for new technology firms that may not have access to conventional bank loans. Historically the level of VC funding has affected job growth in California’s technology industries.

California VC Funding Equals or Exceeds Rest of U.S. In many recent years, VC funding to California firms often has equaled or exceeded that for firms in the other 49 states combined. Overwhelmingly, this funding goes to firms in the Bay Area.

Funding Has Risen Recently. California firms received nearly $8 billion of VC funding in the second quarter of 2014, the biggest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2000 (near the end of the dot-com boom). Of this amount, over $7 billion went to Bay Area firms.